Now in his ninth season at the helm of the Black Bears, head coach Ted Woodward’s team looks poised to rise back to the top half of America East after leading a young squad through a tough schedule last season and gaining valuable experience that should pay off in years to come.

Last season, Maine had a team that defeated Atlantic-10 foe Rhode Island (the third Atlantic-10 win in the last three seasons) and played tough with defending National Champion Connecticut and Big East power Notre Dame. Freshman Justin Edwards was named the CollegeHoops.net America East Rookie of the Year while being named to the All-Rookie Team, Alasdair Fraser was named Third Team All-America East, Gerald McLemore was named Second Team All-America East and Andrew Rogers was named to the America East All-Academic Team for the third time.

The 2010-11 Black Bears notched wins over Atlantic-10 foe UMass, and Big Ten Tournament runner-up Penn State, which advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Maine also had its first win at Vermont in six years en route to a top-25 ranking in the Mid-Major Poll. The Black Bears finished in third place in America East, marking just the second time in 20 years the program had back-to-back top-3 finishes in the conference. The Black Bears also led the league in scoring and total offense.

Maine had three players garner All-America East awards, with Troy Barnies being named to the First Team, Gerald McLemore to the Second Team and Andrew Rogers to the All-Academic Team. In addition, McLemore and Barnies were named to the NABC All-District I Team.

Under Woodward’s leadership, the 2009-10 Black Bears had one of the best seasons in program history as Woodward would earn America East Coach of the Year honors from CollegeInsider.com.

Maine finished the 2009-10 season with 19 wins, the fourth-most in program history. Included in those wins were victories over the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Boston College Eagles and the Fordham Rams from the Atlantic-10. The win over BC was the first in 85 years and the only win for an America East team over an ACC team that season. Maine would finish third in America East, the best finish since the 1999-2000 campaign.

In addition to the Coach of the Year Award, Woodward was named a national finalist for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award, given annually to honor recipients who not only achieve success on the basketball court but who display moral integrity off of it as well.

The Black Bears also received votes in the Mid-Major Top-25 Poll for three consecutive weeks, and had five players (Gerald McLemore, Sean McNally, Junior Bernal, Murphy Burnatowski and Andrew Rogers) earn America East postseason awards. In addition, five players (Bernal, Burnatowski, Simon Elias, Terrance Mitchell and Rogers) were named Maine Scholar-Athlete Award winners.

From 2004-09, Maine finished twice in the top half of the league, including a win over Rhode Island (his first win as head coach) and the 100 Club Tournament Championship, the first in-season tournament championship in several years.

Woodward has developed a number of Black Bears who have achieved honors both on and off the basketball court. He has had 10 players earn America East All-Conference honors including McLemore (four times), Burnatowski, Bernal, Justin Edwards, Alasdair Fraser, McNally, Kevin Reed (twice), Joe Campbell, Ernest Turner, Olli Ahvenniemi, Philippe Tchekane Bofia, Mark Socoby. Off the court, Woodward has led the Black Bears to achieve tremendous academic success, with many players receiving America East academic honors (Bernal (twice), David Dubois, Olli Ahvenniemi and Andrew Rogers (three times)), and Maine Scholar-Athlete Honors (Bernal, Burnatowski,Elias, Mitchell,Rogers, Jordan Cook, Olli Ahvenniemi, David Dubois, Jesse Keith, Chris Markwood, Jason Hight, Tyson Hartnett, and Philippe Tchekane Bofia). In 2005-06, Maine had six players honored as part of the UMaine Scholar-Athlete program, and four others were named to the America East Academic Honor Roll. In 2006-07, the men’s basketball team recorded the highest team grade point average in any year since records began being kept in 1988. In addition, the Black Bear basketball program has taken pride in community service with the team taking part in many community service events throughout the year.

 Woodward was named the 20th men’s basketball head coach in school history on Tuesday, August 31, 2004. Woodward, with 19 years of Division I coaching experience upon his hiring, spent eight seasons as the top assistant coach with the Black Bears prior to being named head coach. He served as associate head coach during the 2003-04 season.

 Woodward has been part of a Maine coaching staff that has led the Black Bears to appearances in two America East Championships and the lone pair of 20-win seasons in Maine history.

 “We are pleased to name Ted as our next men’s basketball head coach,” said former Director of Athletics Patrick Nero upon his hiring. “He shares the priorities that we have for our athletic program. He understands the high value we put on education, citizenship and the desire for our student-athletes to excel athletically. Ted joins and strengthens what we feel is already a very strong group of head coaches in our program.”

 Woodward, 48, spent eight seasons as John Giannini’s top assistant and recruiting coordinator. He is respected as an accomplished recruiter and has played a key role in bringing top level talent to Maine. In addition, he has valuable expertise in the technical and administrative aspects of the program. He has an excellent record as a teacher of basketball, as he has worked with five players in his career who have reached the NBA. He

 Before coming to Maine in 1996, Woodward was the top assistant and recruiting coordinator for Mark Adams at Central Connecticut State for five seasons. During his tenure, CCSU set a Division I era school record for wins. Prior to his stint at Central, Woodward was a full-time assistant and recruiter at Harvard University during the 1989-90 and 1990-91 seasons, where he also served as Director of Athletic Promotions.

 He began his coaching career as an assistant at the University of Connecticut under Jim Calhoun from 1986-89. While he was at UConn, the Huskies achieved one of the greatest rebuilding projects in college basketball, culminating with three straight postseason appearances in four years, including the 1988 NIT Championship.  Woodward had been recognized by his peers in rivals100hoops.com and TheInsidersHoops.com surveys as one of the top assistants in the country. He also served as a specially invited guest of the Portuguese Basketball Coaches Association at their annual clinic in Lisbon.

 In addition to his work with the basketball team at Maine, he was also head coach of the men’s golf team from 1997 to 2001.

 A native of Suffern, N.Y., Woodward received his bachelor of arts degree in economics from Bucknell in 1986 and his master’s in education with an emphasis in sports administration from UConn in 1989. He is married to the former Linda Emery and they have two children, Jillian, 18, and Tommy, 15.